Processing facilities, such as manufacturing plants, chemical plants and oil refineries, are typically managed using process control systems. Valves, pumps, motors, heating/cooling devices, and other industrial equipment typically perform actions needed to process materials in the processing facilities. Among other functions, the process control systems often manage the use of the industrial equipment in the processing facilities.
In conventional process control systems, controllers are often used to control the operation of the industrial equipment in the processing facilities. The controllers can typically monitor the operation of the industrial equipment, provide control signals to the industrial equipment, and/or generate alarms when malfunctions are detected. Advanced controllers can often use model-based control techniques to control the operation of the industrial equipment. Model-based control techniques typically involve using models to analyze input data, where the models identify how the industrial equipment should be controlled based on the input data being received.
Process control systems typically include one or more process controllers and input/output (I/O) devices communicatively coupled to at least one workstation and to one or more field devices, such as through analog and/or digital buses. The field devices can include sensors (e.g., temperature, pressure and flow rate sensors), as well as other passive and/or active devices. The process controllers can receive process information, such as field measurements made by the field devices, in order to implement a control routine based upon the control model. Control signals can then be generated and sent to the industrial equipment to control the operation of the process.
Many process control systems also include an application station. The application station can execute a software application that performs various process functions, such as maintenance management functions, diagnostic functions, monitoring functions, and safety-related functions in the process control system, such as based on the control model.
The software application is typically customized to the particular process being controlled. The process control system application, database service, and runtime service are highly dependent on one another. Changes to the common data components can necessitate the client application to be rebuilt. Process control software developers are required to closely coordinate the development of database, runtime, and system software so that the software is built and released in a unified manner. Also, since the modeling application is integrated into the particular control software, reuse of effective models is often limited because of the differences in the particular control that is being exerted on different processing facilities.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for non-linear process control that is flexible. There is a further need for such a method and system that facilitates and/or expedites development of the control technique.